Hunters use various methods to attract white tail deer to the hunter's location. In a first instance, scents and sounds can be used to lure deer to a vicinity. Such methods often are deficient because the deer do not approach the hunters location within shooting distance without additional visual confirmation of the presence of other animals.
White tail deer use their tails as a visual means of communicating with other deer. For example, does will raise their tails to signal that they are ready to breed. Bucks recognize and are attracted to a doe's tail raising display. Accordingly, visual attractors (decoys) have been proposed for hunting white tail deer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,081 is a deer tail decoy that can be affixed to a heavy, full-sized deer body decoy structure. The white portion of the deer tail decoy is visible continually, and does not attract a deer's attention. Moreover, the hunter must carry and maintain a full-sized deer body decoy structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,692 proposes a deer decoy resembling the hind quarters of a white tail deer. The decoy may be mounted into a ground surface with two stakes. Tails are attached onto ends of a metal drive rod for pivotal movement and are displayed at opposite sides of the decoy. The molded plastic body comprises two halves with a hollow area inside to house electronic mechanism (a small motor, rheostat, radio control, battery) and the metal drive rod. The electronic mechanism enables tails attached to the drive rod to be moved to the left and to the right to simulate deer tail movement. The decoy is cumbersome with its molded plastic body and lacks head and neck features to simulate a doe or a buck. The electronic mechanism adds complexity.
Notwithstanding various attempts to create deer decoys that are effective in attracting the attention of deer, the current decoys either fail to simulate the movement of a deer tail to a sufficient degree to attract and maintain the attention of deer, fail to permit a hunter to control their movement, and/or require burdensome mounting structure. Hunters continue to seek simple to operate, lightweight, and compact deer decoys that mimic the tail display motion of white tail deer.